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NBA season 2013-14 preview: San Antonio Spurs

Father Time set to stay away for at least another season for kings of the West.

Another season and another set of voices can he hear crying out: “the Spurs are too old to win this season.”

Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

Also stop me if you remember the “old” San Antonio side win 58 games last year making them the most successful sporting franchise in America since 1998.

San Antonio went agonisingly close to upsetting the Miami Heat in the Finals last season, and while many of their veterans have won championships before, their so-close yet so-far routine last season will spur then on again.

The core of what made last season’s side so good returns and last year’s Western Conference champions have only swapped out Gary Neal for Marco Belinelli.

Tim Duncan wound the clock back close to 10 year when he averaged 18 points and double figure boards last season.

And while it might be much too expect his 37-year-old frame to do all of the heavy lifting, he will have even more help this season.

Kawhi Leonard, Tiago Splitter and Danny Green have emerged in the past two years as serious players, and when on the court together, combine very well and will be hard to stop again this season.

Tony Parker will again be one of the top five players in the league, with some arguing he should be have been included in the MVP discussion more last year as he ran one of the most efficient offenses in the NBA.

While he had a busy off-season playing with the French national team, and his minutes might be watched carefully in the early going, he has a perfect coach to oversee such things – Gregg Popovich

Popovich is the best tactician in the NBA today, and while he was criticised for making some mistakes down the stretch against the Heat in last year’s finals, his record is unparallelled.

No other coach in the league could have managed the Spurs’ aging squad the way he has while at the same time bringing in the next generation to carry some of the load.

So listen to the ‘Spurs are too old’ cries all you want, but the team from Texas is heading towards another 50-plus win season.